


In the Dark

by 1creativeusernameplease



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Adorable Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV), Baby Yoda is his SON, Baby Yoda wants cuddles!, Comfort, Dad!Mandalorian, Pet names up the wazoo cuz I can't call him baby yoda, Sleepy Cuddles, Touch-Starved, cuz you know-never showing your face thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24333562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1creativeusernameplease/pseuds/1creativeusernameplease
Summary: “Yes, it is very pretty isn’t it?” Din stretched as he got out of the pilot’s seat. “We’ll see more of it tomorrow morning, get a little sunshine for you. You can stretch your legs. But I think it’s time for bed now, ad’ika.”The child lifted his arms in preparation to be picked up and Din did just that.--------------------Mando would like to sleep but his adopted son really wants to see under his helmet.
Relationships: Baby Yoda & The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 265





	In the Dark

The Mandolorian sighed as he powered down his ship. They had landed on an uninhabited forest moon on the outer rim. He gave one last look at the stars and the moon’s planet which presented as a soft purple crescent near the horizon. Everything was still for a moment. 

A happy coo sounded behind the Mandalorian and he turned to face its perpetrator. His child stared out through the canopy of the cockpit, eyes wide as if trying to take in all of the stars at once. Din smiled underneath his helmet and cocked his head to the side. 

“What do you think?”

The child wiggled in his seat and pointed to the stars above as if he hadn’t seen skies like this a hundred times before.

“Yes, it is very pretty isn’t it?” Din stretched as he got out of the pilot’s seat. “We’ll see more of it tomorrow morning, get a little sunshine for you. You can stretch your legs. But I think it’s time for bed now, ad’ika.”

The child lifted his arms in preparation to be picked up and Din did just that, holding his ward to his chest tightly, protectively. Even now he had to remind himself that there was nothing here that would harm him. He relaxed his hold slightly and his child whined. Silver glinted in the starlight as he moved his head to look down at the small green being in his arms.

“What is it, ad’ika?” The child grabbed edges of his beskar and flattened himself onto the man’s chest. “Alright, alright. No need to whine, you little womp rat.” Din tightened his hold on the child. It cooed appreciatively as the Mandalorian made his way through his ship to prepare for sleep. 

Din had fashioned a sort of crib for the child directly in front of his own bunk. He’d put all the blankets he’d had in the small box and had tried to cover all of the hard places and pointy corners as best as he could. He hadn’t heard any complaints so far. 

Din almost laughed. He always caught himself thinking as if he actually held conversations with the little one. To his knowledge, the child had never spoken a word, even though by all accounts he was fifty years old. Din wondered if he would ever hear him speak. It was odd, but Din thought the child understood him for the most part, and it was very rare indeed when the Mandalorian didn’t guess correctly at what the child needed. They managed to communicate, he thought, in their own way. 

Din looked down again at his child. 

“It is time for you to sleep, green bean.”

The child looked up at him curiously, tilting its head to the side, his enormous ears reminding Din of the wings of a banking TIE striker. Tentatively, he reached out one small green hand and flattened it against Din’s helmet. 

“Yes, that’s my helmet, very good,” Din praised patiently. 

The child narrowed its eyes as if focused on a challenging task. Slowly, he gripped the edge of the helmet between his three fingers and pushed upwards. His task was suddenly clear. Fortunately for Din, the womp rat’s angle was all wrong, so all his work resulted in putting an uncomfortable pressure on one side of his face where his helmet smashed into it. His efforts did nothing to actually lift the helmet off of his face.

He gently pried his child’s hand from his helmet. “What is this, ad’ika? Am I not handsome enough already?”

The child lifted his hand again, clearly unperturbed by his recent failure. Din stopped his hand before it reached the shining metal. 

“No, no, little one. This is not for you.” He set him down gently in the makeshift crib and tucked the blankets around him. “One day you will get one of your own.” The child hummed and reached up again. “Don’t know what we’ll do about those ears though.” Din brushed a gloved finger over the top of one of his ears absently. His child blinked slowly. 

“Close your eyes now,” Din said softly. The child blinked slower. 

Satisfied, Din turned to the refresher. Once the door closed he sighed deeply. It had been at least three days since he had bathed and he was anxious to be clean. He methodically shed himself of all of his armor and clothes, scrubbed himself clean, and changed into a fresh outfit. He took his helmet and wiped it clean, inside first, then the outside. After he was finished, he set his helmet aside and ran a hand through his hair. He’d have to cut it soon. He didn’t like it when the ends stuck out of his helmet. 

He sighed again and looked at the pile of armor on the floor. He could put it all on again and not have to deal with it in the morning. Or he could have this night to relax a little. The Mandalorian tried to think of the last time he’d slept without his armor on. It had been at least two months. He could stand to sleep without it for once. 

Din swiped up his helmet and placed it on his head. Then he gathered the remainder of his armor under his arm. He gave the tiny room one more sweep to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything before opening the refresher door and stopping dead in his tracks. 

The child stood before him, staring up at his guardian and looking a little disappointed.

“What are you doing out of bed womp rat?” Din scooped him into his other arm and made his way to his bunk where he laid his armor down. 

“I distinctly remember telling you that it was time to sleep.” Din shifted the child in his arms so that he was lying horizontally. “Aren’t you sleepy, ad’ika?” 

He traced his child’s ear with his bare finger. It had relaxed him before. The child reached out and grabbed his finger. Din’s breath caught. He’d forgotten to put his gloves back on. His child seemed to have noticed this because he was examining his hand very closely. Din tried to think back and… yes this was the first time his child had seen his bare skin. 

The child hummed thoughtfully as his other hand reached out to grab his thumb. Its hands were not as soft as Din had expected. He watched his child in fascination as his tiny fingers manipulated his own in a curious captivation. He had no idea how long he let him play with his fingers but soon the child’s movements began to slow. 

“Alright, ad’ika. That’s enough for today.” He slowly detangled his hand from his child’s. “Close your eyes now. Time to sleep.” He set him down for the second time that night. At this rate, the sun would be up before they ever went to sleep. He flipped the switches at the base of the ladder to turn out the interior lights. The only light in the cabin came from the cockpit and the several dozen colored indicator lights scattered about the walls. 

Quietly as he could, he pressed the button to open the doors to his bunk and climbed in. It was completely dark in his bunk, but there wasn’t much to get lost in. Din laid down on his back, took off his helmet, and set it to his side. He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, trying to relax all of his muscles in the process. He didn’t really know the next decent night of sleep he was going to get so he thought he’d soak up as much as he could now. It did not take long for him to fall fast asleep. 

\----------------------------------------

Din had been sleeping quite soundly when a sudden noise woke him up. At first, he didn’t know what it was. Then, with seeping dread, the Mandalorian realized he could see the faint multicolored lights of the wall of his cabin. Something, or  _ someone _ , had opened the door. The Mandalorian stiffened immediately, all thoughts of relaxation gone. He heard the child coo and Din squinted into the darkness. He thought he saw a faint blob of darkness near his leg. Din groped blindly for his helmet in the darkness. His fingers found nothing. The child shrieked and Din felt as sudden weight stumble onto his thigh as if the child had fallen onto it. Din swore internally as his fingers felt nothing but air. He felt the child push himself up and pat his tiny hand on his leg. A second later he felt a second pat, a little higher up his leg. Din ceased his frantic searching for a second. He felt a third pat on his hip. 

The child couldn’t see either. He allowed his body to relax by a fraction. The child couldn’t see  _ him. _ He felt another pat and Din inadvertently lowered his hand to rest in front of the child. He chirped happily when bumped into it and grasped his forefinger in his tiny hand. Din’s hand slowly guided the child closer to his face, seemingly of its own accord. 

He didn’t know what possessed him to do it but the child kept getting closer. This was dangerous. This was not a good idea. This was-

A sudden pressure on his cheek cut off all of his thoughts. His breath caught in his throat. The child hummed and Din felt his hand stroke down his cheek until it reached the end of his chin. Din closed his eyes and let out a breath. 

Half his brain was sending up alarms while the other half was so giddy he couldn’t think straight. Both thoughts made it hard to breathe. When was the last time someone touched his face, the  _ actual skin  _ on his face! He forced himself to breathe as his child felt along his jawline and poked at the crevices in his ear. The Mandalorian’s hands curled into fists as his child’s tiny claws scraped gently over the ridge of his nose and patted his way over his forehead. The child chirped curiously when he reached his hairline, and if he pulled a little too hard at a few strands, Din didn’t really care because it had been  _ years. _

The child hummed, seemingly satisfied, and climbed onto the Mandalorian’s chest and laid down. Din tried to normalize his breathing as the child got comfortable. Slowly, carefully, Din curled his hands over the child on top of him. He wished he could see the little green bean now, all snuggled up in his shirt. 

“You are very naughty for breaking into my bunk, little one,” Din barely whispered, holding his child close. “Very naughty.” A tear leaked out the corner of his eye. 

The child sighed against his chest. Din felt the little puffs of breath against his shirt as he fell into a contented sleep, his curiosity quenched for the time being.

“Thank you, ad’ika,” Din whispered and kissed the top of his wrinkled head. “Sweet dreams.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! First Mandalorian fic! 
> 
> I've had this touch starved hc in my head for so long because of course he is. This fic was inspired by this little comic I found on Pinterest. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c6/01/c4/c601c48eaa54108f6c0796389925de83.jpg
> 
> Also I cannot decide for the life of me whether or not I want Din to go without his helmet in front of his son on the show or not. On one hand, Pedro Pascal. On the other hand, I feel it would do a lot of damage to the character's mental well being so....
> 
> Let me know what you guys thought. Drop a kudos, leave a comment. Your feedback gives me life. :)


End file.
